A research program to investigate relationships between central nervous system (CNS) transmitters and behavior was developed in order to learn more about the neurochemical mechanisms which underlie abnormal behavior. Neurotransmitters have major effects on the behavior of animals by their individual or grouped action in the CNS. This concept serves as a basis for our research strategy in developing new experiments in the field of neurochemical correlates of behavior. It is assumed that an important factor in the stable emission of a specific learned response is the change in concentrations of the neurotransmitters acting at the post-synaptic membrane of a group of important synapses involved in key neuronal pathways utilized for the performance of that particular behavior. It therefore becomes important to study how abnormal levels of such transmitter candidates can have major effects on behavior by quantitatively measuring both the transmitter levels in different structures of the brain and concomitant changes in the behavior of the organism. Our research will be directed toward the following five objectives: (1) correlate changes in transmitter levels and/or their metabolites in morphologically defined subcellular components from various brain areas, as well as the content and turnover measurements in these areas, with the quantitatively measured behavioral changes induced in the same animals by drug administration; (2) correlate changes in the in vivo efflux of neurotransmitters and/or their metabolites in the brain of animals during their behavioral disruption following drug or precursor administration; (3) determine the effects of schedules of reinforcement on behavior, neurotransmitter levels and turnover rates of these compounds in specific brain areas and subcellular fractions isolated from these parts; (4) continue our studies on the metabolic and functional roles of glycine, glutamate, aspartate and GABA; and (5) develop methods for studying compartmentation of different neurotransmitters. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: Aprison, M.H.: Are Some Amino Acid Neurotransmitters Involved in Psychiatric Disorders? Chapter in: Neuroregulators and Psychiatric Disorders, Earl Usdin, David a. Hamburg and Jack D. Barchas (editors), pp. 181-390, Oxford University Press, New York (1977).